


Beware of the Sparrows

by tjstar



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Cults, Dark!Ben, Delirium, Disturbing Themes, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Ghosts, Hopeful Ending, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Mind Control, No Incest, Non-Consensual Possession, Non-Consensual Touching, Post-Possession, Relapsing, Sibling Bonding, Vomiting, the sparrow academy - Freeform, tua s2 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:49:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25711633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tjstar/pseuds/tjstar
Summary: Klaus notices a glimpse of something unfamiliar in Ben's eyes — or maybe it's just his usual judgement, maybe it's concern. He keeps driving; tiny flashes of light distort everything they touch.And so does time travel.---Ben starts to act weird and Klaus tries to find explanations for that.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 8
Kudos: 215





	Beware of the Sparrows

Time travel is messy. 

Five was right _for once,_ when he said that it wouldn't be pretty, but landing in the sixties in his still adult body is the last thing Klaus could've expected. Just like getting kicked out of the diners, then suddenly finding his golden ticket; and, and, and,

Eventually starting a cult. Accidentally, Klaus might add — he didn't _recruit_ them, they just _found_ him — they just needed someone to worship. It was funny at first, all the adoration and prayers, but then it just got out of hand. They were getting close, too close, stripping him of his privacy and of his clothes and _offering_ themselves to him. This was the moment when he decided to leave, he crawled his way out of the circle of his followers while they were whistling a single note; they almost stepped on him, making him think back of the day that actually was — a nightclub, sweaty bodies and a pill on the floor* — then there was Dave — and then... Then he died.

All of them, probably, this is the reason why Klaus is _still_ staying sober. 

But he's only got Ben, his brother, his friend, his co-pilot who has leveled up into the existence of a full-blown poltergeist now. He can touch things, move things. He can smack Klaus across the head too.

"I had an unfinished business in San-Francisco."

"You don't even have a body without me."

Klaus laughs. 

The car breaks.

They’re on their way to Dallas, stricken by the blistering heat, sweaty and lacking of fresh water. Ben keeps throwing witty comments as Klaus plays poker with some locals during their journey, but,

He refuses to help when Klaus is about to get his ass kicked —

Klaus _gets_ his ass kicked. 

He also gets a pickup truck and bites the hand that is about to stop him.

"This is a bad idea," Ben says. 

And Klaus says,

"You're just boring."

Nothing new.

"You should've stayed with them," Ben leans back in the passenger seat. "It's your responsibility now. Your _Destiny’s Children,_ Klaus." 

"Never wanted to become a daddy, Benito," Klaus replies and clutches at the steering wheel. 

They were the ones who adopted him at first. Right? Right. They believed his nonexistent abilities, and he just needed to get his life settled. All good, all good, Klaus keeps repeating as the trees pass by. All good. He notices a glimpse of something unfamiliar in Ben's eyes — or maybe it's just his usual judgement, maybe it's concern. He keeps driving; tiny flashes of light distort everything they touch.

And so does time travel.

***

"You're a shitty medium." 

Klaus sighs. The outlines of the furniture draped with white curtains look like ghosts surrounding him. They're alone in the mansion — Klaus' mansion — and the room doesn't seem so huge and empty as Klaus' chest gets tight with panic.

"Maybe they're still alive?"

"Maybe they're not even born here?" Ben huffs, unable to hide his irritation. 

"Doubt it."

"How do you know?"

"Why not?"

"Stop it," Ben snaps. "You had no right to take me with you." 

"Because of Jules?"

"Jill," Ben corrects him.

"Right, Jill," Klaus claps his hands. "Sorry, Casper, there's nothing in this world I can do to help you lose your V-card."

Ben glares at him. 

"You've never known what love is."

 _Don't lose your self-control,_ Klaus reminds to himself. _Ben wasn't around you in Vietnam, so he doesn't know how much Dave means to you. Stay calm._

Klaus says,

"Ah, sure _I_ _don't."_

And he smiles as wide as he can to get more emotions from Ben, to _provoke_ him; there should be an explanation, right? Ben likes a living girl he can't be together with, he time traveled to the sixties and got stuck here with Klaus who is a walking disaster. But Klaus got stuck here with his _thoughts._

Ben clenches his fists in despair; a little too aggressively, but it's still _Ben,_ after all.

***

The day when Klaus hugs Allison is the best day in this timeline of life.

*** 

He meets Dave. 

Dave punches him in the face at a 1963 diner. Dave's homophobic uncle — the one who forced him to _hit the queer_ — sees it, the customers see it.

All the alcohol tastes like blood from Klaus' busted lip, and Ben's words sting him like a whiplash,

"I told you."

"Yeah, you did," shitty whiskey burns Klaus' throat all the way down. "Wanna celebrate your victory?" he offers Ben a flask.

Ben scrunches up his nose as if he can still smell it.

Klaus shrugs and keeps filling himself up with booze.

He said it years ago, he's saying it now — sobriety is overrated. 

***

"Klaus, is Ben here?"

"No, unfortunately, ghosts can't time travel."

"Are you kidding me?"

No, he's not. He knows he's not gonna be able to manifest Ben for them when they ask him, he knows his powers would fail again; he's gonna screw it all up. Just because screwing everything up is his second nature. Klaus can't handle it, he's been drinking all the time since Da… Since the diner-incident, and,

His family doesn't expect him to do anything big anyway. For them, he reached his limits when he conjured Ben and then the Moon exploded anyway. This time it's almost the same, like a Groundhog day. Five says that they have reunited (again) to save the world (again), and Diego got in trouble with the girl (again), while Luther (still) can't get over the fact that Allison is married (again), and sir Reginald is alive. Still. Again. Klaus' drunk mind refuses to make any more notes. 

***

When Ben _possesses_ him for the first time, Klaus thinks there was rat poison in a dear Papa's lovely drink. He vaguely realizes that he's not sitting upright anymore, that his throat hurts as the words are being forced out — a greeting — _I'm Ben_ — and then he remembers nothing. He's still on the floor, probably, and somebody says that he's overdosed, and Klaus can feel a slap of Reginald's heavy glance as he turns to him. Looking at him upside down, while Klaus has no idea what happened, and why he feels _so_ hangover.

"I regret nothing," Ben only says. 

For Klaus, it’s a mystery: how he ended up sprawled across floor in the elevator. His nose is bleeding profusely, staining his favorite shirt, and he can't do anything about it even when Allison hands him a tissue. Blood soaks through, spilling down Klaus throat and hitting the bottom of his stomach. Being _trapped_ again doesn't help.

"You had no right to possess me," Klaus chokes up. His chest burns, his neck is so stiff it might break any second.

"Possession is a strong word. I'd like to say "borrowed you." Temporarily," Ben grins, he actually _grins,_ and Klaus whispers, 

"Why?"

"To say hi to _my_ family."

So obvious. 

Something in Ben's tone makes this statement even creepier. 

"They would prefer _me_ to stay with them," Ben adds. "You don't even know how your powers work."

"Said the KIA guy," Klaus quips. 

Diego kicks him in the thigh. Slightly, thank God.

"Shut up."

"Or yeah, I'm sorry, brother dearest. There's a lot of annoying ghosts here in Texas. One old fart has been nagging at my brain since I landed."

Klaus sniffles and lets out a raucous laughter. 

Ben clenches his jaws, looking away.

Klaus is all semi-conscious when they reach the first floor; he's being dragged by his foot _out_ of somewhere, then _into_ another somewhere, and then he feels a weird pressure on his body. 

*** 

"You used my body to get back to my cult? You know what you did, Ben? You made me kidnap _myself!"_

"You wanted to talk to them, remember?" 

"Not like that," Klaus exhales. "You're wearing me out."

"You're being overdramatic." 

Waking up on the brink of pissing his pants is a new routine, because Ben, apparently, keeps forgetting that Klaus' body needs some relief every once a while. 

"You told them I was a fraud and that we all are gonna die!"

"Because you wouldn't do that yourself, Klaus."

"You undressed me!" Klaus gestures down at the white loincloth that sits too low on his hips. "God, this is happening again," he hugs the toilet, almost wanting to fall into it face first and drown. At least, this time he was able to make it to the bathroom without making a mess all over himself. 

Ben shrugs.

"They like your body, even your scrawny ass."

Ouch. As if it's Klaus' fault that he can't gain enough weight or muscles to stop looking like a lanky teenager. 

"What about a little warning?" Klaus groans out.

Ben keeps hovering over him, keeps staring.

"I thought you're getting used to it."

"To _what?"_

"The possession."

"Gotta stop making me puke if you still want to sport this smile," Klaus says as he retches and spits into the bowl.

Ben is right — Klaus wasn't going to get back to his mansion, now occupied with his cult members. It never felt like home. He felt uncomfortable with how Jill looked at him smiling and playing with her lovely curls when he was passing by. So he just didn't want to hurt Ben, or to disappoint Jill. Anyway, she doesn't even know that Ben _exists._

Klaus can barely stand on his own when he brushes his teeth. The water has a shitty taste, and no golden taps can fix it; his bathroom is so white it hurts his eyes, he's so exhausted he can't see any other ghosts. 

Except Ben.

"I'm not doing this again," Klaus warns him, spitting the toothpaste into the porcelain and pearl sink. "Don't look at me like this!" 

Ben smirks,

"As if I was going to ask you." 

"You? What? Ben, no!" his head hits the side of the sink with a loud _bang,_ and then,

He's still here, _somewhere_ in his body, completely out of control. Ben keeps thinking something about the sparrows and about doing some manipulations with the cars again — so that Klaus can't leave — he broke the car on purpose! That's why the engine overheated! Sparrows, sparrows, sex — 

Klaus doesn't want to have sex, but his mouth doesn't agree with his personality anymore. It feels like a blackout, because there's a hand touching him through the loincloth, and there's Jill getting to her knees, and Klaus is so alarmingly aware of that, that he screams out, 

"I'm saving myself for someone special! I'm… I'm sorry," he places his hands on Jill's shoulders and gently pushes her away. 

She looks so upset and brokenhearted that he wants to howl; he almost knocks some of his followers off their feet as he runs back into his bedroom and grabs his black pants and a black vest, dressing up with the speed of light. The window is open, and it's not that high if he's lucky enough — 

Klaus jumps.

Klaus is a _lucky_ man, a lucky man who's now running down the street, away from the thing he helped to create. Soon enough he realizes he’s not alone in the alleyway where his lungs betray him, but he keeps going. 

"What the Hell, Ben?!" 

"Klaus? Klaus, I can explain, I can't control it…" Ben runs after him until Klaus can't breathe. 

He sits down on the pavement and smokes, then washing the taste down with whiskey. 

"You mean, your dick?"

"I mean my mind," Ben says, sitting down beside him. "As if there's the switch between _good_ and _bad_ me."

Klaus shoves past his fear and looks at Ben — just Ben! Without any insanity in his eyes — and asks,

"Like, a psychosis?"

Ben nods. 

"Oh, shit." 

Klaus needs a drink. Several.

Is there a mental institution for ghosts?

"I started to notice the first signs a year ago," Ben says. "I thought that the mood swings were just mood swings, but it turns out they weren't. And then I found out I can possess you," he heaves out a sigh. "I thought I can control myself, and I want you to know that I'd never hurt Jill. Or you. But the darkness _inside of me,_ along with The Horror, it's just… Unbearable."

Klaus looks up at the stars to make a wish, but nothing's falling except for him. He's on the bottom of this life, and now his ghost brother is going insane due to the mistake in the time traveling code. Ben says he doesn't know anything about the sparrows yet, and Klaus believes him, Klaus doesn't know what to do. 

This Ben — the one that's sitting next to him — is the Ben he knows, Klaus can feel it in his aura. His head swims. 

"Hey, you need some rest." 

"I know, Benny, I know."

Klaus doesn't want to fall asleep. 

***

He wakes up lying on the asphalt — right where he — _shit._ He can't see Ben, he can't see any other ghosts — again. He's cold, and the dog tags on his chest feel too hot as he flees down the street once again; there's a building pressure in his brain, and he can't control his limbs as he enters their new headquarter. Elliott is not here, but Klaus' family is. They're bickering about something, about the end of the world and Diego's tactic. Diego is way too obsessed with Kennedy for Klaus' liking. Klaus needs to warn them — 

And something in his mind clicks. 

"Sorry I'm late," Klaus says, dragging his hand across the table and knocking off the glass so casually it draws attention. "Oops."

"Klaus," Luther gets up from the chair. "We don't have time for this."

"Hey, neither do I," Klaus giggles. Takes a step forward. "You know, when you choked me _that time,_ I liked it," he looks around the room, all the glances are glued to him. 

It feels good, this is the showtime. 

There are five well-trained crime-fighters against him, and Klaus is here to fight to — but then something changes again — 

"Stop me!" he begs, almost falling to his knees. "I'll explain later!" and the next moment he kicks Diego in the shin and grabs one of his knives out of the harness. He's trembling, and his voice is all unsteady as he says, "you, all. Listen to me or I'll slit his moron's throat." 

A blade of the knife is pressed to his Adam's apple.

"Klaus, you need to sit down, bro," Diego raises his arms up. 

Klaus prays for him to stick the knife in his shoulder, but he says,

 _"Klaus_ is not here." 

There's something wet on his neck, running down his chest as his own voice continues, 

"You better let it go, you won't change anything, anything! The world's gonna end, then again, and again, but you can still decide who survives, this idiotic hippie," the blade presses harder. "Or the bomb," he nods at Vanya. "Don't fucking listen…" Klaus tries, but his mind keeps slipping away. "Knock me out!" 

The one who possesses him falls silent, before asking, 

"You really think it's gonna work?" 

This looks like Klaus is talking to himself again, just playing the role, but,

"Luther! Knock me out!"

Klaus keeps forgetting that Luther is a certified boxer now, and he can only hope that the one who possesses him is so blissfully unaware of that. It happens far too quickly, a sharp pain in the back of his head, then the hard embrace of the floor, and the carpet in his mouth, and then,

"Was that necessary?"

***

"I knew it wasn't Klaus."

"Why are you so sure about that, smartass?"

"He held the knife in his _right_ hand, and the last I checked, Klaus wasn't ambidextrous. He's just a southpaw like me so I noticed that." 

"And?"

"Well, whoever or whatever possessed him, we can rumor it out. Allison?" 

"Isn't it like, _his_ thing?"

"I'm still here, you know," Klaus winces at how pitiful his voice sounds. "And I need water, not even asking for whiskey as you can tell."

"Oh, he's awake." 

Klaus can't raise his head, because his entire skull hurts so much. Then he remembers _what_ happened while something was operating his body, and… It doesn’t make his headache go away. He doesn't know _where_ that thing is now, an evil version of Ben. More sensations come back, pins and needles in his arms, legs and in his back. Klaus is restrained, tied to the chair in Elliott's living room, and when he finally looks around, he sees his siblings staring at him. And there's a doomsday hanging above their heads like the sword of Damocles. Still. Again.

And Klaus says,

"Hi."

"What the Hell happened?" Diego crouches down right in front of him. Luther drags him back by the collar of his shirt.

"We don't know if it's Klaus." 

Diego listens to him.

And this is the right decision, because Klaus can't even warn them that he's gonna be sick — the next second he _is_ sick, leaning over the armrest and nearly popping the joints in his tied down arms. Vomit splatters on the floor, and Klaus chokes and hacks up nothing for forever. 

"Did I hit him that hard?"

"Shut up, Luther." 

"Guys, you see that? Is that…"

"...Ben?"

When the gag reflex stops torturing him, Klaus straightens his back a little; his palms are glowing blue, and so does Ben — 

_Ben._

"I've missed you all," he says. "So much."

And he's corporeal enough to communicate with all of them, while Klaus watches them with his jaw hanging open — he did it _again,_ accidentally, and they believed him. This version of Ben is completely sane, he beams as Allison almost smothers him with her hug, and he kisses her cheek. Vanya looks confused, but she gives Ben a shy smile as he hugs her too.

"Uh, guys? What about untying me?" Klaus wiggles his toes. "I wanna participate in a group hug too!"

Luther and Five exchange glances. 

Diego cuts the ropes, and Five shoves a pen and a paper into Klaus hands, making him write his name — and Klaus does it — Five nods.

"A southpaw. It's him."

"Now you believe _me,_ you little paranoid gremlin?" 

Klaus hugs Ben too, whispering into his ear,

"Ghost bitch."

"Ouija idiot," Ben chuckles. 

"Can't believe that we're standing here like a team," Luther says. "Welcome back, Ben." 

Ben breaks the hug, and Klaus nearly loses his footing without support. 

"It's time for me to go to the light, Luther," Ben says. He sounds sad, he looks sad.

"No, no, what do you mean?" Klaus touches his shoulder. "I'm sure we can fix your brains, mein bruder, you don't have to go!" 

Ben looks at him.

"You know what that _thing_ can do. You know what it _almost_ did to you, to Jill, to our family. I'm sorry, Klaus, but I can't stay." 

"Klaus? What is he talking about?" Allison asks. "Who's Jill?"

Klaus doesn't reply, neither does Ben.

"Beware of the Sparrows," Ben says. "This thought kept following me, and now you have to find out the meaning."

"Sparrows? God, I hate sparrows already," Klaus moans. He has to cover his eyes with his forearm as more light fills the room; there's a blue and white portal behind Ben’s back, and before turning to it, Ben adds, 

"Your ghost army will fight for you, soldier. The Sarge says hi."

"Ah, that asshole!" Klaus laughs and wipes the tears running down his cheeks. "Have fun flying with the angels, Benny." 

"If I see you there in less than fifty years, I swear to God I'll kick you out myself." 

"Oh, I'm sure I'll go to a much warmer place when I actually die," Klaus says. "It was nice to have you back."

Ben walks into the light.

Klaus waves him a GOODBYE.

**Author's Note:**

> i just headcanon that sparrow academy!Ben can control minds  
> * the POWER of [these scenes](https://i-seeaspaceshipinthe-sky.tumblr.com/post/625449092480450560/1x07-2x03)  
> \---  
> special thanks to tumblr user @allisonshargreeve for talking to me about this idea at 4 am!  
> \---  
> comments/thoughts are very appreciated! <3


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